by Robert Fischer
This past Sunday Trump came to Georgia ostensibly to support the Republican senators in the contested run-off election scheduled for January 5th. It was another spectacle, one that finally convinced me that the president is a cult figure who can do no wrong in the minds of his followers. Valdosta, Georgia might as well have been Jonestown, Guyana. It was Jim Jones, Huey Long, and Father Coughlin. Rah, rah, rah, praise the great leader who will free us from our bondage. Drool over his every word, and act out; four more years, four more years, yeah, yeah, yeah!
Of course, political pundits and many in the press have long spoken of the Trump cult, but I have been reluctant to do so as I’ve sought to make sense of this president and the last four years. I continued to think there must be some merit or sense that would explain his actions and explain why so many people have supported him. It especially intrigued me that so many people I knew to be reasonable had gone over to him.
Watching the people in Valdosta crowd in to hear him was not really about the Georgia senate race but about him and their adulation of him. It was a rally for Trumpism against all the boogeymen and others who in their minds are responsible for their real and imagined problems. It was a great “feel good” time and, like one drink too many, helped make all their problems go away. They would follow the messiah to the promised land.
Trump was lashing out at all the usual suspects, making outrageous claims, lying about everything, and telling his minions what they wanted to hear. The presidential election was rigged, and the Democrats were going to cheat again in the upcoming run-off contest. The election authorities in Georgia—all Republicans—were spineless and incompetent.
It was another perfect performance which would help keep Republicans in Washington in line to go on humoring and enabling him, a cult figure kept in power through fear and love.